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Update: 6 hurt in head-on Greensboro crash

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
(Updated Wednesday, November 18 - 12:21 am)

GREENSBORO — A head-on collision in northern Greensboro injured four children and two adults Tuesday morning.

The crash happened at

9:12 a.m. in front of 4228 Yanceyville Road just north of Lorraine Road. Yanceyville was closed for nearly two hours after the wreck.

Firefighters had to cut both drivers from their vehicles. Both drivers were taken to Moses Cone Hospital for treatment. Greensboro police said their injuries were not life-threatening.

The children in the minivan were in car seats and suffered what witnesses described as superficial injuries from flying glass and other debris. They were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Police did not immediately identify the victims. Citations are pending.

Shortly before the wreck, David Spencer of Browns Summit was heading home for a snack during a break from work. He was behind the northbound Acura when he noticed the driver duck down, as if he were reaching for something on the car’s floorboard.

That’s when the Acura crossed the center line on the two-lane road and hit a southbound minivan. The Acura spun several times and came to rest in the road. The impact knocked the minivan into a ditch.

Spencer said he avoided the wreck by swerving his GMC Envoy into a front yard. He jumped out to see if he could help. Then he heard children crying from inside the van.

Several houses to the north, Wendy Webb was watching TV when she heard the crash and rushed outside.

“I was scared because it was smoking, and there was fluid coming out,” Webb said afterward. Spencer, she said, “just jumped right in. He’s my man.”

Most of the children, who ranged in age from about 6 months to 5 years, were cut and crying. Spencer, 32, crawled into the van through a broken rear window.

The good news: All four were strapped into car safety seats and did not appear to be hurt. The bad news: The car seats did not fit through the window.

So Spencer unbuckled each child, one by one, and handed the children out the window to Webb.

“They just kept coming and coming,” Webb said.

Webb, a mother of five, ran with the children to a nearby home, where another woman wrapped them in blankets as they waited for firefighters and paramedics to arrive.

Spencer said he was not scared — just concerned.

“The only thing I was worried about is getting those kids,” said Spencer, who has two children of his own. “I’d want somebody to do that to mine.”

 

Contact John Newsom at 373-7312 or john.newsom @news-record.com

 

Accompanying Photos

John Newsom (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Firefighters huddle after cutting the drivers out of both vehicles Tuesday morning after a crash on Yanceyville Road in Greensboro.

  • Crash site, 4228 Yanceyville Road, Greensboro, NC

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